Timeless print varnish - something to be aware of

[PeterAit]

I am getting prints ready for a show and, as usual, am using the Breathing Color Timeless varnish. I have been completely unable to get it to come out right. Turns out the varnish has a shelf life of about a year, as confirmed by a chat with Breathing Color. Mine was 2 years old, hence the problems. As there's no expiration date on the containers, this never occurred to me. It's great varnish, but folks should be aware of this issue.

[Landscapes]

Oh wow.. pretty interesting.. and this sucks.  I get in on the deal to order 3 jugs since it just saves so much and I also mix gloss and matte together.  I'm a bit surprised though because there shouldn't be stuff in there that kind of degrades.  I understand about how it can't be frozen, and perhaps it settles so it needs to be mixed well if its been sitting around for months, but to actually break down is a bummer.  What kind of problems did you see to make you say it wasn't coming out right?

[howardm]

a good reason to scribble the purchase month/year w/ a Sharpie on ink, paper, and most other supplies

[Paul2660]

I am getting prints ready for a show and, as usual, am using the Breathing Color Timeless varnish. I have been completely unable to get it to come out right. Turns out the varnish has a shelf life of about a year, as confirmed by a chat with Breathing Color. Mine was 2 years old, hence the problems. As there's no expiration date on the containers, this never occurred to me. It's great varnish, but folks should be aware of this issue.

What were the problems?  I have some close to a year old now.

Paul

[PeterAit]

What were the problems?  I have some close to a year old now.

Paul

I could not get it to go on evenly (using a roller). I have done this successfully in the past, so I don't think it's my technique. Then as it started to dry there would be mottled hazy areas most evident in dark regions of the print. They did not go away with drying.

[dpirazzi]

I could not get it to go on evenly (using a roller). I have done this successfully in the past, so I don't think it's my technique. Then as it started to dry there would be mottled hazy areas most evident in dark regions of the print. They did not go away with drying.

Thanks for the heads up, if this is true, BC should label the product accordingly.

FYI, I had problems with "mottled hazy areas most evident in dark regions" any time I tried to roll Timeless on a large print (small prints came out ok). I gave up and switched to HVLP.

[PeterAit]

Thanks for the heads up, if this is true, BC should label the product accordingly.

FYI, I had problems with "mottled hazy areas most evident in dark regions" any time I tried to roll Timeless on a large print (small prints came out ok). I gave up and switched to HVLP.

I have had excellent results with fresh Timeless rolled onto prints up to 20 x 30. It does take a bit of care and practice to get an even coat, to be sure.

[Malcolm Payne]

Hi Peter,

I tested the new Canson PhotoPro Matte canvas a few months ago, and had the same severe mottling problems you describe with both Timeless and Glamour II varnishes on all the small print samples I ran, both rolled and HVLP sprayed, and with both light and heavy coats. I showed the samples to Canson's technical expert, whose opinion was that the canvas simply needed more varnish (I had never had any such problems with my usual BC Lyve canvas).

Additional coats didn't seem to help much, and my remaining stock of varnish is vintage mid-2011 for the Timeless and early 2013 for the Glamour II, so at the time I put the problem down to either stale varnish (both had needed a lot of stirring to get an even mix), or an incompatibility with the Canson canvas. The latter is marked 'water resistant', so I surmised it might be somehow repelling the water-based varnish.

Not having any fresher supplies to hand, I very hesitantly sprayed a couple of A3 prints for a client on the ProPhoto Matte canvas a few weeks ago with the same batch of Timeless, assuming I might have to scrap them and start over with a new batch of varnish if necessary. To my surprise they came out perfectly and with no additional coats or effort required. I've also just done an A1+ on Canson's Museum Art canvas for another client, a very light coat of Timeless 80% matte in this case to meet a particular requirement, and again that came out perfectly with a single coat comprising one horizontal and one vertical pass, and no mottling or any other issues at all.

This was all with a Fuji Q4 HVLP system and undiluted Timeless sprayed at ca. 40 deg C.  I did have to turn the air volume up slightly more than I normally use for diluted GII in order to get a fully atomised spray, but it's a lot easier and quicker on large prints than trying to roll coat.

BC may be correct that Timeless has a limited shelf-life (their latest spec. sheet now says six months, which I assume is a recent addition), and I'm afraid I don't have either an explanation for the original mottling problems or an answer for you, but my own experience suggests there may be more to this than simply an expired batch of varnish.

I hope you manage to find a solution in time for your show anyway.

Cheers,

Malcolm

[ricky02]

I am getting prints ready for a show and, as usual, am using the Breathing Color Timeless varnish. I have been completely unable to get it to come out right. Turns out the varnish has a shelf life of about a year, as confirmed by a chat with Breathing Color. Mine was 2 years old, hence the problems. As there's no expiration date on the containers, this never occurred to me. It's great varnish, but folks should be aware of this issue.

Does it came sealed? Its one year out of the factory or after is open?

[PeterAit]

Does it came sealed? Its one year out of the factory or after is open?

Yes, sealed. I don't know.